January 2023 - 8

NEWS
Derbies help Game and Fish
reduce burbot numbers
GREEN RIVER - The beginning
of a new year marks another opportunity
for anglers to help reduce numbers of an
illegally-introduced fish from two reservoirs
in southwest Wyoming.
The annual Burbot Bash at Flaming
Gorge Reservoir is Jan. 27-29, and the Ding
the Ling derby is Feb 10-12 at Fontenelle
Reservoir near LaBarge. These events help
the Wyoming Game and Fish Department
continue its quest to reduce the impact
burbot have on the fisheries and ecosystems
of both reservoirs. Burbot compete with
sportfish for food, are voracious predators
that eat prized sportfish like trout and
smallmouth bass and they reproduce at a high
rate. Regulations require anglers at Flaming
Gorge and Fontenelle to immediately kill all
burbot they catch. In addition, the must-kill
regulation applies to everything west of the
Continental Divide and everything in the
southern one-third of Wyoming where the
fish do not have native drainages.
The first Burbot Bash was in 2011 and has
been held every year since, except for 2015 due
to poor ice conditions. Robb Keith, Game and
Fish fisheries supervisor in the Green River
Region, said more than 39,000 burbot have
been harvested from Flaming Gorge from
this event. If you include some other smaller
derbies, that figure is more than 53,000.
" The impact just from the derbies is great,
especially when you figure half of those burbot
are females, " Keith said. " An average-sized
female is going to have 500,000 eggs in it,
and a big female is going to have more than
1 million. That's a lot of recruitment that was
removed, and a lot of mouths that were eating
forage and sportfish. "
The Ding the Ling at Fontenelle Reservoir
began in 2016 and has been held every year but
2018 due to poor ice conditions. Participants
have removed more than 3,600 burbot.
Keith said angler participation has grown
8 | January 2023
Wyoming Game and Fish Department Fisheries Biologists Stephen Siddons, left, and John Walrath, right, measure a burbot caught at
the Flaming Gorge Burbot Bash in 2019. (Photo by Chris Martin/WGFD)
at both events. The Burbot Bash attracted
between 200-500 anglers in its early years,
compared to 1,348 in 2021 and about 1,100
in 2022. The early years of the Ding the Ling
drew around 100-150 anglers, but now more
than 200 people participate each year.
Local businesses support both events. The
Burbot Bash offered around $50,000 in prizes
last year.
Game and Fish helps as necessary with rule
development and timing of the events. The
department also is present at the derby fish
check in stations to receive teams and count,
scan and weigh the burbot they harvested that
day. The data collected is used by the respective
derby sponsors to award prizes.
Keith said events like the Burbot Bash and
Ding the Ling have reduced burbot numbers
in Flaming Gorge and Fontenelle. He added
netting on Flaming Gorge every fall has shown
a reduction in burbot numbers in recent years.
And, Keith said lake trout in Flaming Gorge
that grew up with burbot in the reservoir are
coming of age and preying on burbot.
" We're pretty optimistic we're going to
see this pattern of decline continue, " Keith
said. " Does that mean burbot are going away?
Absolutely not. They will be in the reservoir
for as long as the reservoir exists, but we're
optimistic their impact is going to continue
to decline. "
- Robert Gagliardi, WGFD

January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2023